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Thegns of Mercia at the Museum Part One

Well its been an interesting day at the museum- a few Anglo-Saxon men popped by to the gallery to say hello! Pretty average day then eh? To explain things a little, the museum had a special event which was organised by the Thegns of Mercia, a group of people dedicated to celebrating and raising public awareness of English history from the Migration period through to the end of the early Medieval age, and exploration of these periods through primary research, public events, and re-constructive archaeology.

Here is the poster for the event- I met the guy in the poster today too. He kept putting a creepy fur shawl over me, much to his amusement and all the people in the gallery. I squealed like a girl- the shame! In my defence, it was the skin of a dead animal and still had its little legs and feet dangling from it.

The events were really popular and the children loved trying on all the Anglo-Saxon clothes and looking at the weapons. They are running another day of events tomorrow, and hopefully I can make it to the museum to see them take place. Apparently they are doing some activities with the runic alphabet.

I was really impressed with the level of authenticity with the clothes and weaponry- I managed to try on a helmet which two of the guys insisted I wore. The thing was so heavy I thought my head was going to drop off. Their knowledge on Anglo-Saxon history was also fantastic- they knew so much about the crafting of their weapons and it was great that they were running the event to share their knowledge. They are a fantastic asset to museums in the Midlands, so I hope more people decide to hire these guys for events.